Crossing the Styx
by Alban55
Summary: The Shiki Fuujin is a seal that allows the user to remove a soul at the expense of another. Usually it is the user's soul that is removed, but one facet of the seal is that the Shinigami is always the one who chooses the soul that is sacrificed.


Hello everyone, and welcome to my fifth story. It's one that's been planned for quite a long time, but with my other stories taking the forefront, this one has been kept in my mind since.

However, with the start of this story, I have an announcement to make. To be specific, it's an announcement to those of you who follow me fairly close as a writer here. And something that may shock you.

This is my last story.

Five stories may not seem like all that much, but all of my stories are fairly long, and I'm come to deal with how hard it is to juggle multiple stories at a time. So, it's perfect for me. Any more, and it's doubtful that I'd finish all of them.

With that being said, this story isn't fully out yet. Instead, this is just meant as a little teaser for the lot of you. I will not be updating this next until I finish **Amenaza, **so please don't pester me for updates. I have my hands full with other stories, and I just wanted to get this out while it's still fresh in my head, and I have something to work with.

So, let's get started!

(P.S.: For those of you who have followed me for a long time, you may have noticed that I've scrapped **Symbiosis**.)

* * *

Prologue: The Sealing Rites

The Shinigami is a god.

It is not a powerful shinobi who has claimed to be a god.

It is not a Bijuu who's powers have been looked upon as godly.

It is not a false idol worshiped in the countryside as a god.

It is a literal god.

And it offers its services to mortals in exchange for one thing.

Their souls.

It first made its contract when the Uzumaki clan developed its special jutsu many years ago, but it has had a history of offering its services to mortals during the long history of humanity. It collects their souls in its belly, where they spend their afterlife locked in eternal combat.

The setup for the contract is simple. In exchange for the user's soul, the Shinigami reaches its spectral hand inside the user's torso, allowing them to remove the soul of anyone they choose. Both of the souls then enter the Shinigami's belly and become locked in combat for eternity.

That is the binding of the Shiki Fuujin contract.

Or so the humans believe.

In reality, there is no such thing as a contract that can bind a god to its will. The Shinigami collects the souls of the user based on its will alone; it can choose to take whatever souls it wishes. When in a merciful mood, the Shinigami will honor the agreement. But if it is not in a merciful mood, it will take another suitor with him.

This is a legend that has been told to many throughout the Spirit World, and one that will travel to Konoha...

* * *

The Kyuubi was sealed, and Uchiha Madara had been defeated and forced to retreat. All was well within the village of Konoha. Namikaze Minato had successfully sealed the Kyuubi within his son, Uzumaki Naruto.

Both he and Kushina had been speared through the middle by Kyuubi's claw, but in the end it didn't matter. The Shinigami's will was encompassing everyone within the area. The Kyuubi, half of which had been sealed within the Shinigami's belly, Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki Kushina, and most importantly...

The newborn Uzumaki Naruto... was also underneath the influence of the Shinigami. It would be the one to decide who would die here, regardless of physical injury.

And right now, there was no welcome for either of the parents within its belly.

Both Minato and Kushina had given their parting words to their son; it was as if they were prepared to die there. But the Shinigami would not have that. Neither one of them were going to die there. He would make it so they lived from their injuries. The Kyuubi was gone, and the only remnant of it there was the claw that had impaled both of them.

Bunch of fools...

"We are ready..." Minato announced up to the Shinigami, while Kushina continued to look upon their son. Minato's soul was bound in its arms by the Shiki Fuujin, having been severed by its knife. All it had to do was consume.

It didn't say anything in response to Minato. The Shinigami didn't engage in conversation with mortals. The Shinigami opened its mouth, like it was preparing to take in Minato's soul and guide Kushina along to the afterlife.

Yet, instead, it released Minato's soul. The captured soul wafted back towards Minato's body, settling once again inside. The contract between the two of them was null and void, as was always the case.

Minato and Kushina managed to both look confused, but they both knew what just happened. The consequences for the Shiki Fuujin had been lifted, yet the seal had still been completed.

"W-What? W-Why? I'm going to die anyway, so why did you return my soul to me?" Minato asked. The claw was still penetrating him, yet he felt life invigorate him once more as his soul returned to him.

Fools... the Shinigami controlled death. Living things died because of its will, and there was no one or nothing that would die without its express permission. These two were going to live.

The Shinigami looked down at the baby Naruto, its beady eyes studying him. There was another reason that it didn't want to take Minato's soul for this offer, because the seal had not been completed. It had only taken half of Kyuubi's soul; the other half had been sealed by the Hakke Fuuin inside the child. For it to get the full benefits of the deal, it required the full soul of the Kyuubi. And Minato would unknowingly pay the fee for its services in another soul.

The Shinigami sheathed its knife as it opened its mouth. It didn't even need the knife for this. A wave of putrid breath washed over Naruto, waking him up and making him bawl. The Shinigami began to inhale its breath, and blue energy was being drawn from Naruto, particularly from the seal on his stomach.

Naruto cried louder as his parents realized what he was doing.

"Stop! What are you doing? This wasn't part of the deal!" Minato cried, as a soul was taken from Naruto. Minato and Kushina calmed down a bit as they saw the clear outline of Kyuubi's soul exit from Naruto, but inside there was something.

A tiny silhouette of an infant human swam within Kyuubi's soul. A soul of its own.

It was identical to Naruto's size and shape.

The Shinigami was taking Naruto as the sacrifice instead.

Minato wrestled the claw out of both his and Kushina's abdomen, and once free they struggled on the ground to get to Naruto. Kushina was weeping, and Minato himself was also crying.

The putrid breath of the Shinigami finished its course, and Naruto settled down. Yet his soul remained in the grasp of the Shinigami, along with the Kyuubi's.

The Shinigami took both souls in its hands, jamming them both in its mouth as it began to consume. A few other souls tried to escape from its belly while this was going on, but the Shinigami patted them down.

"Stop! Don't do this!" Kushina said, crying all the way. The beads unraveled themselves away from the Shinigami's arm, and the robe covered its arm once again as the ritual finished.

It closed its mouth, and Naruto's soul was consumed.

Kushina looked over at Naruto. He was silent, unmoving, and looked cold. The baby's skin was turning a chalk white, the feeling of life he gave off earlier nowhere to be found.

Kushina let a few tears drop, before she screamed to the heavens in agony, mourning her lost child.

Minato turned to the Shinigami, incensed, but the Shinigami couldn't care less. It had gotten what it wanted on this occasion; it wasn't going to take their lives.

With both Naruto's and the Kyuubi's souls consumed, the Shinigami disappeared into the night, the jutsu cancelled and leaving a greater effect than either parent could imagine...

* * *

Okay, this prologue is short. Only about 1000 words, but that's what I was intending, because this is just a teaser. This was supposed to kick off the events of the story, nothing more or less. But still, please review.

**Translations**

Shiki Fuujin: Dead Demon Consuming Seal

Hakke Fuuin: Eight Trigrams Seal

Goodbye,

**_Alban55_**


End file.
